Reconnecting mental wellness through LightenUp app
Reconnecting mental wellness through LightenUp app
Reconnecting mental wellness through LightenUp app
We designed and piloted a mobile app to help students track their moods, reflect through journaling, and build emotional awareness, developed through research, validated in real-world use. This project is a part of BRIN’s PPBR program.
We designed and piloted a mobile app to help students track their moods, reflect through journaling, and build emotional awareness, developed through research, validated in real-world use. This project is a part of BRIN’s PPBR program.
Role
Freelance Product Designer
Role
Freelance Product Designer
Role
Freelance Product Designer
Service
UI/UX Design, Product Research, Product Management
Service
UI/UX Design, Product Research, Product Management
Service
UI/UX Design, Product Research, Product Management
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
This project is a continuality from Ceritain.id, where we built a mental health counseling platform for people in need. The project was initiated back in 2019, before then shutted down in 2021 due to lacks of fund.
Three years later, the founding team was intrigued, once again to give it a try. But this time, we ran the project through PPBR BRIN program for creating an integrated mental health ecosystem for universities & institutions.
This project is a continuality from Ceritain.id, where we built a mental health counseling platform for people in need. The project was initiated back in 2019, before then shutted down in 2021 due to lacks of fund.
Three years later, the founding team was intrigued, once again to give it a try. But this time, we ran the project through PPBR BRIN program for creating an integrated mental health ecosystem for universities & institutions.
This project is a continuality from Ceritain.id, where we built a mental health counseling platform for people in need. The project was initiated back in 2019, before then shutted down in 2021 due to lacks of fund.
Three years later, the founding team was intrigued, once again to give it a try. But this time, we ran the project through PPBR BRIN program for creating an integrated mental health ecosystem for universities & institutions.
PROBLEMS
PROBLEMS
PROBLEMS
According to Riset Kesehatan Dasar (Riskesdas) 2018 from Ministry of Health, 1 out of 5 people in Indonesia suffers from mental disorder but only 10.4% of them are able to seek mental health treatment. There is a certain gap where:
Patients struggle to understand their condition
Many patients don’t fully recognize their symptoms or how treatment is progressing → which slows down recovery and makes therapy less effective.
This often stems from a lack of access, awareness, and education around the therapy process itself.
Providers face challenges in managing care
Mental health professionals are overwhelmed with scattered data and disconnected touchpoints → which making it hard to tailor treatment, track progress, or respond to what patients truly need.
The result? Gaps in care, missed signals & limited support outside the therapy room.
The idea visualization is something like this:
From what we learned above, the actual problem is far bigger than that.
Counseling sessions & analytics are just the outer problem from what both users & providers are actually needs. This project should be accommodating the whole end-to-end process instead of creating another counseling bloated platform.
According to Riset Kesehatan Dasar (Riskesdas) 2018 from Ministry of Health, 1 out of 5 people in Indonesia suffers from mental disorder but only 10.4% of them are able to seek mental health treatment. There is a certain gap where:
Patients struggle to understand their condition
Many patients don’t fully recognize their symptoms or how treatment is progressing → which slows down recovery and makes therapy less effective.
This often stems from a lack of access, awareness, and education around the therapy process itself.
Providers face challenges in managing care
Mental health professionals are overwhelmed with scattered data and disconnected touchpoints → which making it hard to tailor treatment, track progress, or respond to what patients truly need.
The result? Gaps in care, missed signals & limited support outside the therapy room.
The idea visualization is something like this:
From what we learned above, the actual problem is far bigger than that.
Counseling sessions & analytics are just the outer problem from what both users & providers are actually needs. This project should be accommodating the whole end-to-end process instead of creating another counseling bloated platform.
According to Riset Kesehatan Dasar (Riskesdas) 2018 from Ministry of Health, 1 out of 5 people in Indonesia suffers from mental disorder but only 10.4% of them are able to seek mental health treatment. There is a certain gap where:
Patients struggle to understand their condition
Many patients don’t fully recognize their symptoms or how treatment is progressing → which slows down recovery and makes therapy less effective.
This often stems from a lack of access, awareness, and education around the therapy process itself.
Providers face challenges in managing care
Mental health professionals are overwhelmed with scattered data and disconnected touchpoints → which making it hard to tailor treatment, track progress, or respond to what patients truly need.
The result? Gaps in care, missed signals & limited support outside the therapy room.
The idea visualization is something like this:
From what we learned above, the actual problem is far bigger than that.
Counseling sessions & analytics are just the outer problem from what both users & providers are actually needs. This project should be accommodating the whole end-to-end process instead of creating another counseling bloated platform.
APPROACH
APPROACH
APPROACH
We were using Apple's Challenge Based Learning (CBL) to map key issues, co-learning with our psychologist partner, and identify where we could create real impact. After mapping the core problems, we broke down what LightenUp could realistically deliver, balancing vision with development constraints.
We structured the scope from mental health service flows, ensuring our platform fits the reality of both providers and patients.
As the only designer on the team, my responsibilities are:
Create a roadmap from the very beginning and define the expected outcomes
Design the preliminary render for both LightenUp app & website
Maintaining the development progress between internal team & our third-party development team
Conducting user research & interview with psychologist and professional mental health services provider in order to gain more insights regarding to the product.
We collaborate with our psychology partner to breakdown what kind of workflow that we could deliver for the beta test. The objective is clear: to test the idea of building small, well-managed, mental health ecosystem starting from the smallest possible environment.
How does it compare to other existing mental health platforms?
Unlike traditional mood-tracking apps that focus on a single user, LightenUp is a dual-sided platform to cater to both patients and providers.
It is easy for providers to send worksheets or self-help feature for patients, and access traceable data outside of sessions.
We were using Apple's Challenge Based Learning (CBL) to map key issues, co-learning with our psychologist partner, and identify where we could create real impact. After mapping the core problems, we broke down what LightenUp could realistically deliver, balancing vision with development constraints.
We structured the scope from mental health service flows, ensuring our platform fits the reality of both providers and patients.
As the only designer on the team, my responsibilities are:
Create a roadmap from the very beginning and define the expected outcomes
Design the preliminary render for both LightenUp app & website
Maintaining the development progress between internal team & our third-party development team
Conducting user research & interview with psychologist and professional mental health services provider in order to gain more insights regarding to the product.
We collaborate with our psychology partner to breakdown what kind of workflow that we could deliver for the beta test. The objective is clear: to test the idea of building small, well-managed, mental health ecosystem starting from the smallest possible environment.
How does it compare to other existing mental health platforms?
Unlike traditional mood-tracking apps that focus on a single user, LightenUp is a dual-sided platform to cater to both patients and providers.
It is easy for providers to send worksheets or self-help feature for patients, and access traceable data outside of sessions.
We were using Apple's Challenge Based Learning (CBL) to map key issues, co-learning with our psychologist partner, and identify where we could create real impact. After mapping the core problems, we broke down what LightenUp could realistically deliver, balancing vision with development constraints.
We structured the scope from mental health service flows, ensuring our platform fits the reality of both providers and patients.
As the only designer on the team, my responsibilities are:
Create a roadmap from the very beginning and define the expected outcomes
Design the preliminary render for both LightenUp app & website
Maintaining the development progress between internal team & our third-party development team
Conducting user research & interview with psychologist and professional mental health services provider in order to gain more insights regarding to the product.
We collaborate with our psychology partner to breakdown what kind of workflow that we could deliver for the beta test. The objective is clear: to test the idea of building small, well-managed, mental health ecosystem starting from the smallest possible environment.
How does it compare to other existing mental health platforms?
Unlike traditional mood-tracking apps that focus on a single user, LightenUp is a dual-sided platform to cater to both patients and providers.
It is easy for providers to send worksheets or self-help feature for patients, and access traceable data outside of sessions.
DESIGN RESULTS
DESIGN RESULTS
DESIGN RESULTS
Our project offers two different solution:
An app that could provide a simple mood tracking. Designed for individual user as a patient, with an easy interface and advanced features for an optimal experience. There is also a questionnaire feature to assist the monitoring progress of each patient regularly
To help patient understand their condition & encouraging them to fill their daily tracker, we provide some color scheme & recommendations under the Mood Card feature.
Every person will have their unique mood card and it will changed in every 14 days, based on the most selected emotions.
While the other was a web-based platform for clinics & service provider, Integrated with the app. Professionals can manage patient data and access worksheets from each patient. The patient's progress also can be monitored in real-time, where the patient can report their progress through the LightenUp application
Our project offers two different solution:
An app that could provide a simple mood tracking. Designed for individual user as a patient, with an easy interface and advanced features for an optimal experience. There is also a questionnaire feature to assist the monitoring progress of each patient regularly
To help patient understand their condition & encouraging them to fill their daily tracker, we provide some color scheme & recommendations under the Mood Card feature.
Every person will have their unique mood card and it will changed in every 14 days, based on the most selected emotions.
While the other was a web-based platform for clinics & service provider, Integrated with the app. Professionals can manage patient data and access worksheets from each patient. The patient's progress also can be monitored in real-time, where the patient can report their progress through the LightenUp application
Our project offers two different solution:
An app that could provide a simple mood tracking. Designed for individual user as a patient, with an easy interface and advanced features for an optimal experience. There is also a questionnaire feature to assist the monitoring progress of each patient regularly
To help patient understand their condition & encouraging them to fill their daily tracker, we provide some color scheme & recommendations under the Mood Card feature.
Every person will have their unique mood card and it will changed in every 14 days, based on the most selected emotions.
While the other was a web-based platform for clinics & service provider, Integrated with the app. Professionals can manage patient data and access worksheets from each patient. The patient's progress also can be monitored in real-time, where the patient can report their progress through the LightenUp application
OUTCOME
OUTCOME
OUTCOME
We successfully delivered beta product within 1-year contract timeline, meeting all partnership requirements. We also achieved positive faculty validation during university testing phase with President University.
However, there are some stakeholders feedback for further identification & market validation
B2B prospects immediately inquired about public implementation and scalability beyond campus environments.
Healthcare professionals requested advanced assessment tool integration, validating the platform's clinical potential.
Early user sessions confirmed dual-platform approach addresses real workflow gaps in Indonesian mental health ecosystem.
Validated that sustainable mental health platforms require deeper clinical tool integration beyond basic mood tracking
We successfully delivered beta product within 1-year contract timeline, meeting all partnership requirements. We also achieved positive faculty validation during university testing phase with President University.
However, there are some stakeholders feedback for further identification & market validation
B2B prospects immediately inquired about public implementation and scalability beyond campus environments.
Healthcare professionals requested advanced assessment tool integration, validating the platform's clinical potential.
Early user sessions confirmed dual-platform approach addresses real workflow gaps in Indonesian mental health ecosystem.
Validated that sustainable mental health platforms require deeper clinical tool integration beyond basic mood tracking
We successfully delivered beta product within 1-year contract timeline, meeting all partnership requirements. We also achieved positive faculty validation during university testing phase with President University.
However, there are some stakeholders feedback for further identification & market validation
B2B prospects immediately inquired about public implementation and scalability beyond campus environments.
Healthcare professionals requested advanced assessment tool integration, validating the platform's clinical potential.
Early user sessions confirmed dual-platform approach addresses real workflow gaps in Indonesian mental health ecosystem.
Validated that sustainable mental health platforms require deeper clinical tool integration beyond basic mood tracking